During December, we encourage residents in our community to take part in our ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’.

On each day of December whilst opening a door on an advent calendar or instead of having a traditional advent calendar, we encourage you to decorate a box and put an item into it to help support the homeless and needy in our community throughout January, for example: tins and jars of food, Pasta, rice, sugar and biscuits, toiletries and household essentials.

Alternatively, you can put items into the box on each Sunday of Advent, or do it on the 12 days running up to Christmas.

Whenever and however it is done is personal choice, the idea is to recognise that whilst one person’s worry, maybe how to lose the extra few pounds gained in weight over Christmas, another person’s worry is where the next pound is going to come from to put food on the table.

On the first Saturday in January we invite you to drop off your box at our TUKI cafe where we distribute all donations to the Harrogate Homeless Project, the local IDAS Refuge, Lifeline and the Harrogate Food Bank.

Together, our community donations will help people start their new year off with a ‘Happy January’.